Monthly Archive June 2011

To start off this column I want to congratulate longtime Philadelphia Flyer defensemen Mark Howe on the announcement of his upcoming induction into the NHL Hall of Fame. He is one of the greatest skaters to suit up in a black and orange sweater and his selection for the Hall was long overdue.

The great news on Mark Howe got us thinking here a Philadunkia about which former 76er is headed to the Naismith Hall of Fame next. So I want to lay out some evidence as to when the basketball junkies here at Philadunkia will be able to rejoice with the Flyers fans, as one of our own 76ers is inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Honestly, there are only two retired candidates worthy of even being discussed: Mo Cheeks and Allen Iverson.

I’m going to take a harder look at each of our former superstars’ resumes while they ball’d in Philadelphia and then hypothesize a realistic year the Hall of Fame voters would consider electing them to the ultimate enshrinement.

Michael Levin at Libertyballers.com has a few final thoughts on the Sixers 2011 Draft. Among them is the idea that…”Most importantly though, for the 4th straight year, the Sixers did nothing on draft day but make the one or two picks they were slated to make. No moves, no tweaks, no sign of activity to make me think they did anything during the draft except hope the one guy they wanted didn’t fall during their Solitaire tournament in the War Room.”

cbssports.com posts a list of the Top 50 available free agents. The good news — none of the Sixers are on the list. The bad news — unless the Sixers make a trade, they likely don’t have the cap space to sign any of these guys.

Iguodala is going to remain a 76er for the time being, even after several trade offers were dangled in front of the organization for a number of weeks.

Have you ever been caught talking crap about one of your best friends? I mean everyone has to vent from time-to-time about the annoying characteristics friends sometimes smother you with on a consistent basis. Sometimes you accidentally chose to vent to the wrong friend (the girly one) and he happens to rumor it around with all of your close buddies.

Well the Sixers didn’t just tell a few close friends about their unhappiness with Andre Iguodala. They called the whole NBA to the gymnasium for an assembly to announce that they had to get rid of their best player. At nearly any cost.

Our editor and chief Carey Smith was correct during the 2011 True Hoop mock draft, when he selected Nikola Vucevic, the 7-footer out of USC. Rod Thorn and the 76ers grabbed the big man from Montenegro with 16th pick in last night’s Draft and potentially filled the enormous hole in the middle for the 7-6.

While I trotted alongside Vucevic (Voo-CHAY-vitch) as he made his way to the media room at the Prudential Center, it actually wasn’t his height that I first noticed but rather his weight. At 260 pounds, the big man is literally just that; someone who potentially could be a brute force down low for the 76ers. A source within USC told me he put on at least 50 lbs. since enrolling at the university.

Many scouting analysts were stunned when Vucevic entered the draft this year as a junior. He had just come off of back-to-back Pac-10 rebounding titles – a feat no other player in the history of conference had ever achieved. It seemed as if he was just harnessing his talents. Experts had pegged the Trojan as an early second round pick at best. But Vucevic impressed several teams because as Ed Stefanski put it “he’s a stone-cold center.” His workouts catapulted him all the way into Lottery territory of some mock drafts.

“I think I learned how to play tough and aggressive in college,” said Vucevic in his post-draft press conference. “Coming to America helped me a lot. I think I will be able to play the position in the NBA.”

The 2011 NBA Draft is just hours away and if you have been following all of the mock drafts, online expert predictions and television analysis, it seems there is no consensus as to what the Sixers will do with the No. 16 pick in tonight’s Draft.

However no one knows the Sixers better then the scribes here at Philadunkia.com. So with that in mind, everyone here at Philadunkia submitted an opinion on which prospect the 76ers will draft at No. 6 tonight as well as why Rod Thorn and company will go in that direction.

The Westin Hotel in Times Square was the center of the NBA world Wednesday afternoon. The top 12 draftees were each continuously grilled by give-or-take 100 members of the media, including yours truly. Each prospect was seated at a circular table in the fifth floor conference center of the hotel. It is almost guaranteed that all of these players won’t fall to the 76ers at 16. Guess what though? Andre Iguodala is the most available player on the market, and some team is going to bite for his defense after seeing what Shawn Marion was able to do to LeBron.

That means the Sixers could end up with one of these guys.

After the jump are my personality assessment and some of the quotes I gathered during my first NBA Draft media day.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Mid-level teams like the 76ers can climb up the NBA food chain by making the correct pick — or trade in our case — during the NBA Draft. And the importance of the annual June crap-shoot has skyrocketed this year. The impending lockout on July 1st will freeze all transactions until the CBA issue is resolved, which is looking rather bleak.

The last time the Sixers held the 16th pick, Mo Speights was the pick … and well … let’s just say the jury is out on him. I did a little research and check out the list of number 16 picks since 2001.